So you’ve probably heard that timing is everything when you’re treating a horse with sucralfate? Well..that’s 100% correct.
Sucralfate needs time to get into the horse’s system and create a protective barrier over the ulcer sites. It also must be fed before or after other medications to stop it binding with them in the stomach.
The recommended time to wait is one hour before feeding (and administering omeprazole and other medication).
And yes, this treatment is probably going to take up a fair bit of your time. But your horse’s comfort is worth it – right?
Timing suggestions for sucralfate dosage:
Administer the sucralfate dosage as early as you can. For an average horse, this means feeding 3 x sachets of sucralfate. This should be administered with water, in a very small feed or hidden in treats.
After dosing, it’s optimum to wait 1 hour to feed your horse anything else. However, it will still be effective if you only have 20 or 30 minutes available.
Even still – that sounds like a bit of hanging around doesn’t it?
Well, it’s actually not too bad – if you exercise a bit of forethought.
For example: To minimise the risk of gastric splashing, experts recommend giving your horse a small feed before you exercise them. You can add the sucralfate to this feed and then feed the bulk meal after you’ve worked the horse.
If you’re not exercising your horse – there are plenty of other things you can do to fill in the time…
While your horse is being medicated- you could start a small project to coincide with the length of sucralfate treatment. After all, a satisfying project is much better than staring at your watch or playing on your phone.
How about completing one or two of these projects over the course of your horse’s treatment?
- Do a tack room clean out, get some good pics and sell your spare gear on Ebay or Facebook Marketplace.
- Paddock maintenance… anything from painting fences to weed removal. Admittedly, this sounds eye-wateringly boring, but it’s nothing a few good podcasts won’t help with.
- Give your horse a PROPER groom and trim. Don’t wait for that next comp to deal with the billy goat beard and yellowing tail.
- Clean your gear.. surely you’ve got a few hairy saddle pads or leather goods that can do with some TLC?
So with some clever time management your horse’s sucralfate dosage could result in a tidier tack room, more productive pasture and of course, a happy, sparkling horse!
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Ideal sucralfate dosage for horses:
Average Horse: 3 x sachets up to 3 times a day*
Average Pony: 2 x sachets up to 3 times a day*
Ideally this should be fed an hour before or after the horse’s ‘main meal’ and any other medications (such as omeprazole).
*3 doses a day is the optimum amount – and for some people that’s just not possible. Don’t fret -sucralfate will still be effective with 2 doses per day.
